Four More Frank Years

Well, the 2010 City of Santa Clarita Council election is at an end and despite all the drama, all the hopes, and all the predictions, all three of the incumbents are back in power, firmly ensconced beneath the colorful city logo in the Council Chambers.

One of those incumbents, Francis Ferry, seemed to be especially weak this time around, but he pulled it out at the end in a true squeaker by a margin of only 32 votes over David Gauny, the closest challenger.

I caught up with Ferry this afternoon to get his read on the election and ask him what his plans are for the next four years.

On the Election Outcome:

“It was a humdinger,” Ferry told me with a hint of excitement in his voice.

Ferry likened today’s count of the remaining ballots to a close sports contest. “It was like a buzzer beater in a game. I’m excited to get another four years,” he said.

Ferry said he’s been there before. His first time running for City Council, he lost by a close margin.

“I’ve been in five elections and I lost the first election very closely,” he said. “I’ve been there and I know the feeling of coming up short.”

He continued: “I don’t want to disrespect the challengers, I know they worked hard.”

On the Campaign:

Ferry told me that he expected his 2010 reelection campaign to be different and perhaps closer than the last three he’s won. For starters, Ferry said there have been a number of contentious issues before the City Council in recent years, including the hospital expansion and public road closures (like Benz Road in Saugus).

He acknowledges that because of his stance on these matters (and more importantly his vote), he’s “alienated some people.”

“I’m an outspoken person. I don’t have a hidden agenda. If you want to know if I want public roads open, I say it out loud,” he said.

“I definitely knew [it would be a tougher campaign] based on the rhetoric of people who came to the microphone over the last two years,” he added.

Ferry also acknowledged that his base of support has eroded somewhat in Santa Clarita. For years, Ferry worked as a teacher, coach and administrator in the Hart School District. He got to know parents and teachers in the area, who supported him in previous election campaigns.

But for the last four years, he’s been principal of Bishop Alemany High School in Mission Hills. “Some of the base I generated as a teacher in the Hart District has eroded,” he told me.

Ferry said he watched the precinct numbers as they came in and knew it was going to be a tight race. He said in previous elections, he received between 7,000 and 8,000 votes (he received just over 6,500 in this year’s election).

On Immigration as the Surprise Issue of the Campaign

Perhaps most surprising to Ferry in 2010 was the emergence of illegal immigration as a big campaign issue.

“I didn’t foresee the immigration issue,” he told me, adding that he didn’t see it mentioned in the ballot statements of any of the candidates, challengers or incumbents.

But, it had an impact nonetheless.

“Immigration changed the nature of the race,” he said. “It became a primary issue for one candidate,” he added, alluding to David Gauny.

I asked him if he thought that Gauny’s use of illegal immigration was a cynical ploy to get out the vote on election day. He said he didn’t know but said that if a candidate was serious about immigration, he should “still be so after the vote.”

He reiterated that he opposes illegal immigration but said the debate over illegal immigration was becoming a “racial issue”  in the last few months. Recall the uproar that met Ferry after he debated Minutemen in the Council chambers during a February Council meeting.

On YouTube and Blogs

That lead to another set of questions I wanted to ask him. Here in the SCVTalk bubble, inspecting the candidates and their statements under microscope as we are wont to do, it felt as if immigration and some other issues might really derail the incumbents chance’s this year.

Not so says Ferry.

“People who look at blogs are a very specific type of person,” he said.

He also alluded to the Not a Ferry Fan videos and other YouTube videos, hinting that those videos didn’t enjoy wide distribution and that the video blogger took his comments out of context, playing his more colorful moments again and again to prejudice the viewer.

Overall, he said, people should be pretty satisfied with the way the City of Santa Clarita is run. “We’re one of the only cities in the state in the black with a 15% reserve. That’s significant for taxpayers,” he told me.

He also touted the Cross Valley Connector, the recently completed roadway that connects Interstate 5  to Canyon Country.

His Plans

Ferry plans to continue to focus on youth outreach in his next four years. He won’t be up for Mayor again soon, so I didn’t ask him about the Mayor Dude campaign.

He also wants to work on Whittaker-Bermite and senior citizen issues.

I asked him what he thought about the claims of some that the Newhall Library was being built without input and that it might face away from Main Street.

He said the building, as designed, is beautiful. He felt that the city is fortunate to have the money to spend on libraries and other services.

As to the way the building is being built, Ferry admitted to not being a details man. “I don’t get into the details on the Newhall library,” he told me, saying that he trusted the experts who made recommendations about the building.

Major Issues Going Forward

If you’ve read this blog long enough, you can probably guess what the major issues in Santa Clarita are going to be over the next four years. For one, Ferry acknowledged the Lyons connection through to Dockweiler (bypassing the Placerita Homeowners) could be controversial. He also said he wants to see what’s happening with the Smiser property off Wiley Canyon, and he wants to ensure that traffic doesn’t affect local neighborhoods.

Final Notes

Ferry didn’t directly name TimBen Boydston, but he did mention the “former CouncilMember” during my interview with him. For some of you this may be a bit of ancient history; but a review is useful. In 2007 and 2008, Boydston and Ferry clashed often as the hospital expansion became a big issue.

In one particularly dramatic moment, Boydston read an email from a City of Santa Clarita planning staff member who, he alleged, was too chummy with a developer lobbyist.

Ferry reacted in his typically dramatic style, standing up from his seat and saying that Boydston was never elected to his post. He memorably shouted, “Give me a break Boydston!”

Ferry explained to me that when a Councilmember attacks City staff, he’s quick to rise to their defense. “Staff can’t argue with a councilmember, ” he told me. “They’re powerless” against elected officials.